Saratoga to address affordable housing needs through 2022

Affordable housing is once again on Saratoga's radar as city leaders begin updating a document that addresses the city's housing needs through 2022.

A pair of public meetings will be held in the coming weeks to solicit help from residents in identifying locations in the city that could be rezoned to accommodate the 439 affordable housing units assigned by the Association of Bay Area Governments.

To kick-start the update process, the planning commission will host a workshop on Feb. 25 and another on March 11. Both are at 7:15 p.m. and will be held at the Joan Pisani Community Center.

One of seven state-mandated elements of the city's General Plan--a document that sets the goals and policies for each city and guides the future of the city's development--the housing element contains policies and programs that encourage housing development for a variety of income levels.

As part of the update, Saratoga planning officials must show how the 439 units can be accommodated in their jurisdiction within the next eight years in compliance with the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, which takes inventory of the housing needs in the state according to population growth and then divides that figure by regions.

Santa Clara County has an allocation of more than 58,000 housing units while Saratoga was tasked with identifying 439 units in the eight-year period.

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Based on residential projects in the planning phase, Saratoga needs to identify 184 units as very low-, low-and moderate-income housing. To accommodate the figure, city staff must look at potential sites that will be given a special high-density and mixed-use designation of 20 units per acre, but Saratoga is not required to construct these units, community development director James Lindsay said.

One such area is Prospect Road between Saratoga Avenue and Lawrence Expressway. That is the site where in the last cycle, the city had planned for 87 homes to fulfill its affordable housing goals. "It is our understanding the state will allow us to carry the units over for this cycle," Lindsay said.

The 184-unit figure also takes into account the 75 affordable housing units that the city has identified to be built at Fellowship Plaza, according to Lindsay. The city is looking to identify an additional 10 acres of commercial property to rezone as high-density and mixed-use, he said.

Saratoga was denied its appeal of ABAG's recommended allocation last year. City officials had maintained that the allocation was flawed, particularly for small communities, because ABAG failed to take into consideration such factors as Saratoga's limited employment opportunities and access to transportation in comparison to other municipalities in the county.

The deadline for the state to approve the city's 2014-2022 housing element is Jan. 31, 2015. The goal, said Lindsay, is to complete and submit the update by fall.

The last time the city's housing element underwent a revision was in 2007. For that cycle, which is due to end this year, ABAG's allocation was 292 units.